Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the non-profit and non-partisan Federal City Council's (FCC) proposal to use the current site of the Washington Convention Center for the National Museum of American Music (NMAM). The FCC proposal which is now in the conceptual stage anticipates that NMAM will be located at the existing Convention Center site and that it will be part of a major mixed-use complex that includes retail, entertainment, and performance venues. The total estimated cost for FCC's mixed-use proposal is $1.1 billion, with $172.5 million attributed to the music museum. The proposal estimates that the District would receive annual land rent of $13 million, equivalent to a seven-percent return on the estimated land value of $183 million. FCC spent $300,000 in federal appropriations on the project management services provided by the Smithsonian Institution. The District of Columbia has not yet considered any proposals for the use of the Convention Center site. The Mayor has established a task force to study the possible uses for the site, and it is developing a process to both solicit and evaluate independently generated proposals for the site."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report compares data on the number of registered voters for the 40 largest counties in the United States with estimates of voting age populations for those jurisdictions. GAO found that none of the counties have voter registration numbers that exceed the number of eligible voting age residents."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO contracted with KPMG Peat Marwick LLP to audit the financial statements of the Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. KPMG found that the statements were fairly presented in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Management fairly stated that internal controls safely guarded assets against loss from unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition; ensured material compliance with laws and regulations; and ensured that there were no material misstatements in the financial statements. KPMG found no reportable noncompliance with selected provisions of the laws and regulations it tested."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In addition to the end of the Cold War and the resulting military force structure downsizing, three events have shaped the depot maintenance environment. First, the base realignment and closure process has reduced DOD's Cold War era infrastructure from 38 military depots to 19. Second, as recommended in various studies, DOD has increasingly relied on defense contractors for depot maintenance and related logistics activities. Third, depot maintenance personnel have been cut by 59 percent, the third highest percent of any category of DOD personnel. DOD has not effectively managed the restructuring of its depot maintenance and related programs. In its earlier and ongoing reviews of defense maintenance and related logistics issues, GAO has identified several management weaknesses in the areas of policy, planning, recapitalization, human capital issues, financial management, performance of maintenance programs, and meeting legislative requirements. As GAO's recent performance accountability report on defense issues notes, logistics activities represent a key management challenge. Maintenance is an important part of those activities, and DOD is at a critical point with respect to the future of its maintenance programs that is linked to its overall logistics strategic plan."

This report focuses on the situation in Hong Kong as it continues its political and social transformation after the July 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty.

None

The thermal explosion of trinitrotoluene (TNT) is used as a basis for evaluating the performance of a new One-Dimensional-Time-to-Explosion (ODTX) apparatus. The ODTX experiment involves holding a 12.7 mm-diameter spherical explosive sample under confinement (150 MPa) at a constant elevated temperature until the confining pressure is exceeded by the evolution of gases during chemical decomposition. The resulting time to explosion as a function of temperature provides valuable decomposition kinetic information. A comparative analysis of the measurements obtained from the new unit and an older system is presented. Discussion on selected performance aspects of the new unit will also be presented. The thermal explosion of TNT is highly dependent on the material. Analysis of the time to explosion is complicated by historical and experimental factors such as material variability, sample preparation, temperature measurement and system errors. Many of these factors will be addressed. Finally, a kinetic model using a coupled thermal and heat transport code (chemical TOPAZ) was used to match the experimental data.

Weekly newspaper from Sulphur Springs, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Clifton, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa has grown beyond a public health problem to become a humanitarian and developmental crisis. The Agency for International Development (AID) has contributed to the fight against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by focusing on interventions proven to slow the spread of the disease. However, AID's ability to measure the impact of its activities on reducing transmission of HIV/AIDS is limited by (1) inconsistent use of performance indicators, (2) sporadic data collection, and (3) lack of routine reporting of results to headquarters. As part of its approach for allocating the 53 percent increase in funding for HIV/AIDS prevention activities in sub-Saharan Africa for fiscal year 2001, AID prepared a plan to expand monitoring and evaluation systems in countries designated as in need of significant increases in assistance. However, when implemented, the monitoring and evaluation requirements in the plan will not initially include all countries where AID missions and regional offices in sub-Saharan Africa implement HIV/AIDS programs. Further, the plan does not specify to whom these data will be reported or how the information will be used. Failure to address …

An email chain between Charles C. Francis and Karl Rove about the positions that are being filled by gay and lesbian Republicans in the George Bush White House.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Dell City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Point defects induced in high quality optical-grade based silica by high power (>30 J/cm{sup 2}) 355 nm laser pulses have been investigated to elucidate the nature of laser damage in transparent optics designed for use at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Six defects have been identified: the NBOHC (non-bridging oxygen hole center), a STE (self-trapped exciton), an ODC (oxygen-deficient center), interstitial oxygen, the E'{sub {gamma}}, and E'{sub 74}. The former four defects were identified and spatially resolved in the damage craters using cathodoluminescence (CL) microanalysis (spectroscopy and microscopy). The latter two defects were identified using ESR spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures. These defects are unlikely to be a prime factor in damage growth by subsequent laser pulses. Their concentration is too low to effect a high enough temperature rise by a volume absorption mechanism.

The objective of this study was to examine the relative importance of pressure changes as a source of turbine-passage injury and mortality. Specific tests were designed to quantify the response of fish to rapid pressure changes typical of turbine passage, with and without the complication of the fish being acclimated to gas supersaturated water. We investigated the responses of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) to these two stresses, both singly and in combination.

There has long been interest in the use of oxygenated hydrocarbon additives to conventional fuels. These oxygenates have been shown to reduce soot emissions in diesel engines and CO emissions in spark-ignition engines; and often allow diesel operation with decreased NO{sub x}. The current widely used additive, MTBE is targeted for elimination as a gasoline additive due to its damaging effects on the environment. This creates a need for alternative oxygenated additives; and more importantly, amplifies the importance to fully understand the thermochemical and kinetic properties on these oxyhydrocarbons fuels and for their intermediate and radical breakdown products. We use CBS-Q and density-functional methods with isodesmic reactions (with group balance when possible) to compute thermodynamic quantities for these species. We have studied hydrocarbons with multiple substituted methoxy groups. In several cases, multioxygenated species are evaluated that may have potential use as new oxygenated fuel additives. Thermodynamic quantities (H{sub 298}{sup 0}, S{sub 298}{sup 0}, C{sub p}(T)) as well as group additivity contributions for the new oxygenated groups are reported. We also report trends in bond-energies with increasing methoxy substitution.

None

An artificial neural network (ANN) method is developed for treating the spatial variable of the one-group slab-geometry discrete ordinates (S{sub N}) equations in a homogeneous medium with linearly anisotropic scattering. This ANN method takes advantage of the function approximation capability of multilayer ANNs. The discrete ordinates angular flux is approximated by a multilayer ANN with a single input representing the spatial variable x and N outputs representing the angular flux in each of the discrete ordinates angular directions. A global objective function is formulated which measures how accurately the output of the ANN approximates the solution of the discrete ordinates equations and boundary conditions at specified spatial points. Minimization of this objective function determines the appropriate values for the parameters of the ANN. Numerical results are presented demonstrating the accuracy of the method for both fixed source and incident angular flux problems.

In the HYLIFE-II chamber design, a thick flowing blanket of molten-salt (Li{sub 2}BeF{sub 4}) called flibe is used to protect structures from radiation damage. Since it is directly exposed to the fusion target, the flibe will absorb the target debris. Removing the materials left over from target explosions at the rate of {approx}6/s and then recycling some of these materials poses a challenge for the inertial fusion energy power plant. The choice of target materials derives from multi-disciplinary criteria such as target performance, fabricability, safety and environment, corrosion, and cost of recycle. Indirect-drive targets require high-2 materials for the hohlraum. Gold and gadolinium are favorite target materials for laboratory experiments but cost considerations may preclude their use in power plants or at least requires cost effective recycle because a year's supply of gold and gadolinium is estimated at 520 M$ and 40 M$. Environmental and waste considerations alone require recycle of this material. Separation by volatility appears to be the most attractive (e.g., Hg and Xe); centrifugation (e.g., Pb) is acceptable with some problems (e.g., materials compatibility) and chemical separation is the least attractive (e.g. Gd and Hf). Mercury, hafnium and xenon might be substituted with equal target performance and …

None

PIANO is a dynamic, subcritical, zero-yield experiment intended for execution in the U1a.102C drift of the U1a complex at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) (Figure 1). The data from the PIANO experiment will be used in the Stockpile Stewardship Program to assess the aging of nuclear weapon components and to better model the long-term performance of the weapons in the enduring stockpile. The PIANO experiment is composed of one experimental package. The experimental package will have high explosive (HE) and special nuclear material (SNM) in a subcritical assembly. The containment plan for the PIANO series of experiments utilizes a two-containment-vessel concept. The first Containment vessel is formed by the primary containment barrier that seals the U1a.102C drift. The second containment vessel is formed by the secondary containment barrier in the U100 drift. The PIANO experiment is the final experiment to be conducted in the U1a.102C alcove. It will be an ''open'' experiment--meaning that PIANO will not utilize a confinement vessel as the previous OBOE experiments in this alcove did. We expect that the SNM from the PIANO experiment will be fully contained within the first containment vessel.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James A. Laux. Born in 1925, he was drafted into the Navy in 1943. He was accepted into the submarine service. He describes his training at sub school. He reached New Guinea in 1944 and was assigned to his first submarine, the USS Pintado (SS-387), in 1945. He served as a 3rd Class Motor Machinist Mate. He describes sinking two floating mines while off the coast of Java as well as a near-miss with depth charges dropped by Japanese planes. They also rescued downed American pilots while on patrol off the coast of Japan. He describes the living conditions on the submarine. He shares an anecdote about celebrating the end of the war on the way back to the U.S. with a concoction of alcohol called depth charge rum. He was discharged in May 1946. He shares an anecdote about hitchhiking home to Ohio from California. The conning tower of the Pintado is on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War.